Goodbye 2016

This was a fun though somewhat melancholy event at Renegade Studios.  This multidisciplinary space was home to musicians, theatre groups, and visual artists, and is another soon to be casualty of condo development. A bit of an unofficial extension of Vancouver’s Eastside Culture Crawl, this space was the art home to my talented friend Maddy Andrews.  Maddy is a multidisciplinary artist who uses acrylic, textiles, and oils. Wall space was also shared with my mom, Jan MacLean, who paints in acrylic. The informal space was a nice way to share my newer work in oil, alongside some older prints of pet portraits and kids books.

 

creative space = creative energy

I am SO happy to have a new space to call all my own.  Recently my boyfriend and I moved to a place with enough room for us each to have a studio, and it’s been heaven.  I have room to organize all my stuff, spread out, close a door, and take deep breaths.  I even did a little stretchy yoga today when I needed a break.  This is a huge departure from our last place, where my ‘spot’ was in the living room.  My desk and drawing table fit, but there was very little elbow room, and zero privacy.  Sometimes you need to get a little space to yourself, you know?  I heard a great TED talk on introverts by Susan Cain today, which  I related to completely. 

Needing some room to yourself seems to be especially relevant if you are waiting for creativity to strike.  I’ve found that with the combination of the excitement of a new environment, and more and private space, I’ve had a new surge of creative energy.  To follow up on my last post on dreams, I’ve been reading Jung’s autobiography, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections,” which has been inspiring.  While I haven’t actually gotten too much out of it in relation to dreams specifically, I do like a lot of his general ideas.  His trust in the unconscious images that come to us is pretty freeing.  In terms of looking for inspiration it’s just what I need to hear.  I can be guilty of trying to ‘push’ a good idea into being, or look at ideas too much from the perspective of other people, but Jung confirms that it’s ok to trust the value of imagery and symbols that come to you naturally.

I tried to apply this when it was time for my latest project- poster making.  After many years together, I am finally making a show poster for my boyfriend’s band.  I’m going to show just the main image I came up with, but will follow up with the finished product when it’s finished.  I’m taking the hand drawing route all the way, as I really like the feel of hand drawn letters.  Working on that part now.Image